NSW Sustainability Street Conference - 30 August 2008

Sustainability Street Participants Gather to Share their Stories

Penrith City Council is hosting the first ever NSW Sustainability Street Conference, with the theme ‘Sharing Our Stories.’ The Conference will be held at Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Education and Cultural Centre, in Castlereagh on Saturday 30th August 2008 from 10.00am to 4.00pm.

‘Sharing our Stories’ will be a gathering of over 100 Sustainability Street participants from across NSW, where the program has been running successfully since in 2001. The Conference gives participants the opportunity to share their stories, present their unique experiences and to tell others about the projects that they have worked on with their Villages.

The conference will begin with a video introduction by ABC Broadcaster and Sustainability Street patron Geraldine Doogue. The Keynote speaker will be author and adventurer Lincoln Hall, whose books include ‘Dead Lucky': Life After Death on Everest’. Lincoln will share his unique perspective on the importance of looking after our earth and of what can be achieved through commitment and determination.

The Sustainability Street Approach (SSA), devised by environmental educators Vox Bandicoot, is a basic training program in sustainable living, which brings communities together to work for the future. A Sustainability Street Village, can literally be a street, or any other locally based community, such as a sporting club, workplace or school.

‘Keeping it very local is best’ says Vox Bandicoot Director, Frank Ryan. ‘We suggest you try and travel no further than you’d be prepared to walk or ride, to have a cup of tea with your neighbours and chat about your worms!’

‘Sustainability Street is about addressing the two biggest challenges facing humanity, how we can get along better with each other as a species and how we can get along better with the other 30 million species on the planet’ says Ryan. ‘It is like the ecological and social development equivalent of the slow food movement. It is a quiet revolution at a very local level, but it gathers a great deal of momentum and achieves big outcomes.”

The Sustainability Street Approach helps participants achieve significant reductions in waste, water and energy use around the home. It also encourages groups to work together on locally relevant sustainability based projects.

Since the first Sustainability Street Village began in Wollongong, over 60 villages have emerged across NSW, with over 200 villages across Australia. The NSW Environment Trust has provided support for eight council areas to run Sustainability Street in NSW.

Penrith City Council who are hosting the conference, have been great supporters of the Sustainability Street. Penrith’s Sustainability Street program has been running since late 2004, with six communities now up and running within the Penrith local government area. One of the highlights of the conference will be the opportunity to tour some of Penrith’s Sustainability Street Villages, including Penrith SSA pioneers, Banool Avenue.

For bookings or more information about NSW Sustainability Street 2008- Sharing our Stories, contact Krystie Race on 02 4732 8050 or krace@penrithcity.nsw.gov.au